Fate's Request: A Harry Potter FanFiction

Collapsing right after lessons finished the previous day, David woke up early, per usual, but decided to forgo his morning run again, preferring to add the finishing touches to his Map.

There were a couple of changes in his Map compared to the original. The first being the removal of a few spells that gave the Marauders Map it's snarky replies if one attempted to open it without the password. His would just refuse to open, displaying a simple empty parchment.

The second aspect was the removal of the password needed to open the Map. Instead, David linked the activation of the new Map to his head-of-house ring and wand. Giving him the ability to perhaps pass down the Map to his children, if he ever had any.

All he had to do now for it to unlock itself and show every single being walking around Hogwarts was will it to happen, with either the wand or ring on his person. As he kept the ring locked in a safe in his room back in the Isle of Skye, his wand would act as the key.

"Fitz, can you bring over that vial please, it's on my bedside table," David requested of his brilliant blue Phoenix.

Trilling in reply, Fitz leapt from his perch towards the vial, expertly picked it up and brought it over to his desk in the corner of his dorm room.

"Thanks, Fitz," David said, as he gave Fitz's back a stroke.

David dumped the contents of the vial in the little cauldron he had sitting on his desk, under its own self-contained fire.

Watching as the second part of his potion to protect the Map was completed, David submerged the now neatly folded up Map in the cauldron and left it to brew, while he gathered toiletries, which Mel had left on his bed and made his way towards the showers.

---

"It's finished Mel, Fitz," David said, as he peered over the cauldron while drying his still-wet hair. He could have dried himself off with a spell, but he liked to do the simple things in life without the constant assistance of magic.

It was Nala who cried out in annoyance, being left out of David's announcement.

"Oh, I'm sorry Nala, the Maps finished, want to come have a look?" David asked.

Giving a meow in reply, Nala ignored David and went back to sleep, on her favourite spot, the foot of David's bed.

Thankfully Fitz and Mel were more interested in all the hard-work David had spent on the Map, and with Mel standing on his chair, and Fitz now perched on his shoulder, David unfurled the Map and willed it to activate, as he never went anywhere without his wand, even the shower.

Black ink spread out across the surface of the parchment, quickly taking the outline of Hogwarts, following which, dozens of names started to appear all over it.

Mel started clapping as she saw the names of everyone appear on the Map, it seemed to ignore some Magical Creatures, as David couldn't see Mel on the Map, but could see Nala and Fitz, along with a few other pets the Ravenclaw students had in their rooms.

Mel, realising her own name was missing, huffed in annoyance and returned to the Manor to distract herself. Fitz seemed to take offence at the lack of Mel and returned to his perch in protest.

Laughing at his antics, David looked through the Map until he arrived at the Gryffindor common room. The first name that David saw was Peter Pettigrew…

~How did Fred and George miss this… ~

Calming himself, David saw the Pettigrew was in bed with Ronald, who was in his dorm, surrounded by the other second-year Gryffindor boys, and soon found himself looking at the female dorms of Gryffindor Tower.

Names, such as Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinet and Ginny Weasley were all there. David kept looking until he quickly found Hermione and decided it was time to give Mel, Fitz and Greenie their orders.

"Mel, Greenie, Fitz!" David said out loud.

Even in her somewhat disgruntled mood, Mel appeared alongside Greenie. Greenie seemed quite shocked and excited that David had called her and was looking expectantly at him. It was Fitz however, who was being difficult.

"Fitz come here now. This is important," David explained, annoyed.

And yet Fitz simply ignored David and continued preening his feathers, "Fitz!" he roared, finally getting the birds attention.

Trilling in reply, letting David know he didn't like his tone, Fitz landed on his shoulder and clamped down a little too tightly.

Wincing in pain, he quickly settled himself and went to explain.

"I need you three to work in shifts watching my Map," David explained.

"What are we going to be watching in particular, Master?" Greenie asked.

"I need you all to focus on two things. Firstly, the second-floor girl's lavatory, I want you to watch it. If you ever see a student enter this lavatory, tell me immediately. Fitz can let me know through our bond, or one of you can pop over to me invisible and alert me. Ignore Myrtle Warren, she's a ghost who lives in the toilets. Understood?"

"How long do we need to keep watch of the Map, Master?" asked Mel, wanting to do a good job.

"Only when I'm out in the castle and not in Ravenclaw tower," David explained.

"Very well Master, I shall take first watch."

---

David made his way to The Great Hall chatting with Sue Li and Padma Patil about their recent Defence class. They wanted David to help them out with some of the first-year spells they had been unable to cast, thanks to Professor Quirrell's teaching methods.

Knowing that he had been a bit of a recluse in first-year, David happily agreed, as long as it was on Sunday's, as he had nothing planned with Professor Flitwick on that particular day.

With a promise to meet up in the common-room after dinner to talk about it some more, Padma and Sue went to sit with their group of friends and David made his way over to Luna who was sitting alone.

"Morning Luna."

"Morning David," she beamed in reply.

Eating a somewhat quiet breakfast, as Luna only asked a few questions about getting around the castle, David bid her a good day and made his way to the Gryffindor table before everyone left The Great Hall, for first period classes.

"Morning David!" Hermione called out first, as she had noticed him coming walking over from the Ravenclaw table.

They soon found themselves chatting away about their first day, and how interesting Professor Dumbledore's lessons were, David soon confessed to having a rough night of sleep and asked Hermione if he could borrow her notes, which he had completely failed in taking. Trying not to fall asleep had taken all of his concentration.

Glossing over the fact that David mentioned he hadn't been feeling well, Hermione had a shit-eating grin on her face as she agreed to allow David to copy her notes later in the day.

---

David's first lesson of the day was Transfiguration, and after collecting the homework they completed, Professor McGonagall jumped right into practicals, showing them how to transform beetles into buttons.

This was something David had done over the holidays, so as the lesson soon ended, David was the first and only student to completely transfigure their beetle into a button, winning Ravenclaw a bunch of points.

Following a quick lunch on the Gryffindor table, and a surprisingly friendly chat to Harry, much to Ronald's dismay, David quickly finished making a copy of Hermione's Defence, bid her a good afternoon and made his way to dungeons before anyone else, hoping to catch Professor Snape.

He wanted to thank him, just as Poppy recommended and preferred to do so without everyone in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw knowing that he was terminally ill.

Thankfully, Professor Snape was in the dungeons early, preparing for their class.

David proceeded to politely knock on the open dungeon door before entering.

With a curious look of his eyes, he answered, "Enter."

"Hello, Professor," David said, trying to make this less awkward. No one really chatted to Professor Snape after all.

"Cross… take a seat and sit quietly. I need to prepare a few ingredients," he answered, annoyed by the interruption.

Knowing that he would probably shout at him if he drew this out any longer, David quickly spoke up, "I wanted to thank you for brewing the blood-replenishing potion Madam Pomfrey created, Professor. So uhh, thank you. I really appreciate."

I look of shock went over Professor Snape's face, it lasted only an instant, but it was there, and David caught it.

"Ahh, yes… Poppy did mention it was for a student but didn't mention as to who in particular… or what illness…" Professor Snape drawled, hinting subtly that he was curious, but his pride refusing to allow him to ask.

"Yeah…" was all David could say, not knowing if he even wanted to tell the Professor what his illness was.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, and thinking about it seriously, David came to the conclusion that while Professor Snape might not like a student, he would probably wouldn't gossip about their health. Not to mention he was a renowned Potions Master, he may have some idea in improving the potions he was already taking.

"Malediction," David said out loud, after making sure no one else had entered the dreary dungeon.

"Excuse me?" Professor Snape said out loud, not entirely believing what he had just heard.

"I have a blood Malediction, Professor. That's why Poppy had you make the potion," David explained.

David could see the gears turning in the Professor's head, and she soon responded, "Ah… yes, that would explain the odd nature of the blood replenishing potion…" Professor Snape said quietly, almost to himself and quickly coming to an understanding of the nature and benefit the potion he had made for David via Poppy's request.

"I shall not inquire further, Mr Cross," Professor Snape said, ending their conversation.

---

Severus Snape sat in the headmaster's office, waiting for him to finish his flu call. He wondered what to do about the information he had just learnt earlier today, regarding the affliction the young Ravenclaw had.

For the headmaster had asked him and Minerva to keep an eye on the young boy. He had absolutely no idea as to why the headmaster requested this of him, and neither did Minerva. But he was here to make his usual report and didn't know if he should tell him about the boy's personal health.

"Ah, Severus. Apologies," Dumbledore said, with a smile as he sat down on his chair, opposite Snape.

Ignoring his apology, as he really didn't care, along with his offer of lemon drops, as she hated sweets, Snape and Dumbledore chatted about the child he was so conflicted about, Harry Potter.

As that painful conversation came to an end, Dumbledore, as he expected asked about David Cross, the young prodigy, who he just learnt was dying.

"His potion-making skills… have clearly risen. The way he handles his ingredients are clearly better than half of my OWL class," he explained, impressed with the boy's skills.

"Hmm," Dumbledore said in response, stroking his beard and s.u.c.k.i.n.g on a lemon drop.

Eventually, he inquired further, "Is that all Severus? I saw him leave early at lunch today, and I believe second-year Ravenclaws have potions after lunch."

Groaning internally, as the old man was now getting annoying, "Yes, he did come into the Dungeons earlier than usual… he sat there quietly reading some book. I didn't catch the name, I was running late in preparing the ingredients, that fool Longbottom and Weasley blew up another cauldron, each!" he said, lying just a little.

"It would be helpful to know the names of the books he reads Severus, please, I'm counting on you," Dumbledore pleaded.

Just how obsessed was he with Potter that he hadn't noticed the boy going to the infirmary every week? If he had Malediction, the required potions were to be taken weekly and Poppy would make sure of it.

Deciding not to inform the headmaster of something he should have noticed by now, Severus nodded in acknowledgement and went back to the comfort of his dungeon.

---

"Hey, Sue," David said, as he sat across from Padma, talking about which spells, in particular, she needed help with. It turned out all the first-year Defence spells were a problem.

"We were just talking about which spells Padma wanted help with on Sunday, have any requests yourself?"

Taking a seat next to Padma, she replied, "Oh, I guess the all the first-year ones as well, but I also want to practice the spells Professor Dumbledore is going to teach us tomorrow. He promised we would get back onto second-year material after all."

Seeing Padma nod in agreement, David also agreed to go over the newer spells they were to learn and suggested the empty classroom near Ravenclaw Tower as their study room.

All in agreement, they asked just how he transfigured his beetle so quickly and the three of them were quickly chatting away about transfiguration.

Eventually, the girls bid him goodnight and made their way to their rooms. David was about to do the same as well until he noticed Luna quietly working on homework at one of the tables in the common room.

Deciding to see if she needed help, as he still had half an hour until lights out, David walked over to her and asked.

---

AN: The orphanage didn't reveal anything about him being sick, and I'd like to think that Poppy kept some sort of Doctor/Patient confidentiality, therefore Dumbles has no idea David is dying.

I don't need to tell you all why he's asking Mel and co. to watch that particular room right?